


Gunpowder & Cookies

by PatchworkPerson



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Dark Avengers - Freeform, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Kid Peter Parker, Precious Peter Parker, Soft Peter Parker, Sort Of, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Does What He Wants, Tony Stark Has A Heart, but peter thinks they are, they're not the heroes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-13
Updated: 2019-08-25
Packaged: 2019-10-09 11:15:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17405894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PatchworkPerson/pseuds/PatchworkPerson
Summary: After ordering a hit on the Parkers Stark deals with the consquencesMob au - Where Tony takes in a recently orphaned peter





	1. Chapter 1

Tony just stares at the boy, this innocent child dresses in a ratty t shirt and a pair of torn jeans cuffed at the ends, who doe eyes are focused entirely on him, who’s standing clinging onto his leg as if the man was his saviour. He could’ve laughed at the ridiculousness of it, after all he was the one who called the hit out on the boys’ parents and for a moment Tony has every mind to just play along be the boys saviour but then again, that could come back to bite him in the ass.

He kneels down in front of the boy, and odd position for him to be in and even his subordinates give him an odd look, Tony Stark knelt to no one. “Do you know who I am?” he asked and the boy nodded, brown eyes shining with a new understanding and for a moment Tony thinks the boy knows his name that his parents had mentioned him and he’s getting ready to signal for someone to kill the child but he needs to be sure, needs to know what exactly this boy knows, “who am I?”

“A hero,” the boy states and Tony’s the only one doing a good job of not looking at the boy in confusion.

“And what makes you say that?”

“Y-“ the boy stops eyes widening in fear before he glances around at everyone, the men and women holding guns and he leans into Tony’s ear and whispers, “you saved me from the bad people.”

For a moment Tony does let his face shift, looking at the child perplexed, “I don’t understand,” and it takes a lot for Tony to admit that, but he really doesn’t, this isn’t how he expected this conversation to go, the boy gives one last glance around at everyone before he shifts slightly and lifts the ratty t-shirt he’s wearing and there Tony can see it. No wonder the kid hasn’t shed any tears for his parents. His skins a patchwork of scars and bruises and Tony’s not sure he recognises how most of them were caused but there are some, burns cause by cigarettes, scars caused by knives, broken bottles. The boy pulls his top down faster when he notices one of the guards moving closer toward them and he edges closer to Tony and now Tony’s at a proverbial crossroads as to what to do.

He still debating what to do when Steve come close to him and whispers something in his ear, the small child watching them curiously and Tony smirks finally staring at the small child before speaking, “how to you feel about coming home with me?” The child practically beams and for a moment Tony just stares at the utter trust the child has despite everything that’s clearly been done to him. He picks the boy up ignoring the dirt getting onto his suit and the smell coming off the child is wafts before calling out to one of the faceless people to have Dr strange meet him at his apartment.

Tony watched in wonder as the small child giggled at the silly doctor, the doctor however didn’t find it so funny, “you need to stay still for this to work,” the man snapped but the boy just laughed, and something told Tony that it was only because he was there that the boy was so calm.

“Any major damage?” Tony asks when Dr Strange is finally finished with the exam, they both watch the boy who’s now dressed in soft red pyjamas, his brown eyes widening as he inspects some of the medical equipment left by his side.

“No broken bones or fractures, the bruises seem to be a few days old and none of the scars or cuts are infected, chances are they treated any injuries they gave the boy to avoid suspicion when he went to school,” Strange states with his usual dry tone.

“Any other signs of abuse?” Tony asked and Stephen just looked at him for a moment as if contemplating something truly bizarre.

“None, I can’t say for certain about emotional trauma or manipulation but as of sexual, when asked the boy gave no sign of understanding and nothing that he said raised any flags.” Tony let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding, “if you don’t mind me asking Stark, what is it you plan to do with the boy?” Tony just smirks eyes firmly fixed on the small boy who was ow smiling right at the man.

“Everyone needs an heir,” and with that the man nudged the doctor out of the door and close it shut, the thought hadn’t actually occurred to him, but now that he thought about it didn’t seem like the worst idea.

The avengers, as tony calls them were the rag tag protection team he put together of the world’s scariest people who sat lounging around his living room watching in wonder as the small child ran around each of them asking questions before running to another and repeating. Tony watched it all, the scene just cementing the fact that yes, Tony was keeping the child. The team however stopped playing their games with the kid as soon as they saw tony, and at the small wobble of a lip they all stared in panic as Tony walked across the room and knelt beside him. A small tug at his lips as the boy’s face lit up again, “everyone, I see you’ve met Peter, from now on I want two of you watching over him at all times.”

"Like babysitting?” Clint asked staring and Tony sends an unamused glance his direction more focused on the small child who was currently curling around him, small arms wrapping around his neck and Tony returned the favour, wrapping an arm around his waist and standing resting the boy on his hip.

“In a sense,” the man drawls, “if he wants a piggy back ride you give him one, if he wants a sandwich you get him one, and if he gets hurt under any of your watch, I’ll skin you all.”


	2. After Thought

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> an insight into Tony thoughts

Tony sat bored out of his mind during yet another meeting, a meeting that shouldn’t have even occurred but due to the fact that some underling can’t follow orders here they were carrying out damage control.

Tony groaned, he was having a good day, he’d gotten a solid four hours of sleep without any extra help from pills or alcohol. He didn’t have any nightmares caused by his colourful past, it was all shaping out to be a good day. He’d had breakfast with Peter who was slowly getting comfortable with his current situation and Tony had a sneaking suspicion that the boy was realising that what his parents had done to him was wrong. Of course, the boy had known he wouldn’t have called them bad people if he hadn’t, but now it was catching up to him, the shock wearing off that yes in fact those monsters were gone and he was safe now, and not even God would be able to help anyone who threatened the safety of that boy.  
Yet, he couldn’t dwell on that for long, as he listened to whoever this man was justify why he’d let his mark go instead of killing them. ‘They had a family,’ ‘someone to notice them missing’, but that family just turns out to be more complications, because that family just turns into more loose ends that Tony has to tie up and really, he was having a good day before all of this.

He rose from his chair, the calm demeanour that he had managed to hold for the past 20 minutes was slowly fading as he got to his feet, straightened his jacket, fixed his sleeves and button the front. The man who had been speaking stopped abruptly mouth shutting with a loud click and really Tony could scoff at the lack of backbone this man held.  
“So,” Tony started moving away from his desk and toward the bookshelf, eyes glancing over his favourite collection, he had the classics, to kill a mockingbird, wuthering heights, catcher in the rye. Most of them were for show he’d admit to that, he’d never really found novels interesting, but that didn’t mean he didn’t like books, no his favourite were the adventures, the stories with transported you into the thick of a battle into a world were nothing was off limits were anyone could be a god. He ran his fingers over the spins of the book, inspecting them making sure no dust had settled on them during the meeting, “you let them go?” he asked not waiting for an answer but the man nodded, “then what’s the matter then?”

Tony can see the exact moment the man thinks he’s not in trouble, the flash of hope which crosses his eyes, the way his lips twitch up, how his breathing calms slightly. He glances to Natasha briefly nothing more than a slight nod, “if that’s all you’re excused.” He doesn’t listen to the man’s heartfelt thank you, after all, fifteen minutes from now and the man won’t be using up any more oxygen in the world, Natasha will make sure of that, she’s nothing if not efficient. His eyes catch on a book in particular, a dark brown book with red embellishes and gold writing. Reaching forward to remove it from the shelf carefully, fingers tracing over the hard cover.   
This book, would Peter like it?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to thank everyone who left me comments, i'm trying to reply to them but honestly I barely reply to texts from my friends and family.   
> So this is me thanking you all for your support for this story.  
> A short chapter more so as a comfirmation that I am making it into a multichapter story so please enjoy.  
> As always Comments and Kudos are appreciated :)


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony gets some interesting news.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! I know I said the 6th but guess who got all their assignments completed early? yep surprisingly me, so here's a new chapter.
> 
> Endgame broke my heart into a million unrecognisable tiny pieces.   
> There will be no spoilers here and also as always canon is ignored.

The incident from this morning had been taking care of, all aspects tied in a neat little bow and honestly Tony would have to send Steve on a spa weekend, or send him a gift basket with chocolates, bourbon and whiskey, the guy would like right? Or maybe some new art shit he’s so obsessed with. He thought about the appropriate gifts as he wandered the halls of the manor. Peter was somewhere playing with Bruce and Natasha, both of whom were the worst babysitters Tony had ever seen in his life and he’d had his fair share as a kid. Their methods were to kneel to the boys demands to avoid confrontation, a crying peter or an angry Tony, really it would be pathetic if Stark didn’t find it so damn amusing.

He found the three of them playing cars on the living room floor, the small child making vrooming noises as the cars zoomed around where Natasha sat. He had just made it to the main living room when a shout called his attention, “Stark!” It was Clint, the blond-haired disaster of a man ran into the room eyes wide, “Stark!” Tony turned to him.

“Yes?”

“They found Barnes,” he breathed out, those three words, Tony thought this day was shaping out to be a good day, but now, it was great. Barnes and all his murderous glory, was Steve's best friend, grew up in the slums of Brooklyn before shipping of to join the countries fight in the wars which seemed never ending. He’d gone missing on a solo mission a few weeks ago and well, everyone was handling it the best that they could given the circumstances. Steve had been burying himself in work making everything perfect, whilst trying to find him with the others help and Tony, well Tony was just excited to see what the man had fond out on his mission.

Sure, being missing for that period of time wasn’t ideal especially when it came to Barnes, and Tony made mental note to arrange a therapist at some stage should the man need it, “how bad?”

“Very,” Clint states as his eyes scan over his phone, “I’ll send you the report.” Tony’s phones dinged a few seconds later and he fished the phone out, _well shit._

“I want Strange here immediately and when Barnes gets here take him to his usual room.”

“Course, anything else?”

“Peter will stay out of his sight you hear me?” It wasn’t up for debate, if what the report said was true then this would be a week of hell for everyone involved and Tony would be damned if he was letting Peter anywhere near it.

The boy in question raised his head at the sound of his name, his brown eyes looking worriedly at Tony for a moment before they lit with excitement.

“Mis’er Stark!” The boy cheered and Tony let himself smile slightly as he watched the boy collect himself off the floor, abandoning the care he had favoured and ran clumsily over to him before attaching himself to Tony’s leg like a koala to a tree. The older man simply huffed out a laugh, watching out the corner of his eye as Clint went to retell the information to Natasha ad Bruce who glanced back at Stark.

“Head on,” he states, “Pete and I are going to have some lunch and Natasha, keep an eye on Steve.” Natasha nods before following the two males out. Tony can briefly here Clint telling Strange to get his ass to the manor before he’s muted by distance. He turns his gaze back to Peter, the boy’s curly hair long enough to cover his eyes and Tony makes a mental note to arrange an appointment for him to get it cut. “So,” he starts, it’s laughable really how a burning gaze from some doe eyes can make him nervous. “What you in the mood for?” He walks out of the room, the small boy giggling from where he’s still attached to Tony’s leg like dead weight.

As he makes his way through the corridors to the kitchen, he can feel his phone going off, messages and calls coming in from everyone alerting him to what’s going on he waits until they’re both seated, Peter in the seat at his side at the table chewing happily at the food placed in front of him, the kid sure had an appetite. He gets his phone from his pocket, only half listening to Peter tell him about his morning with Natasha and Bruce and he wants to give the boy his full attention but right now he can’t.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm starting to accept that most of these chapters will be quite short but now that I'm done with uni stuff for the year I'll be able to update more regularly.  
> Thanks again to everyone who's be giving me kudos and commenting it means a lot and really does motivate me to write more. I hope this chapter isn't a complete mess.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony and Peter have lunch and a look into Steves pov

As Peter enjoys his lunch as Tony reads through his messages, updating himself on their situation, Barnes had been found once again in a Hydra base he ignored the list of injuries after all considering what they all have been through he could nearly guess what would be on it, torture. No what Tony was interested in was whether they had managed to get inside the man’s head again, because if they had, Tony really didn’t know what he was going to do.

Barnes was valuable, always had been but it wasn’t lost on Tony that they man held no loyalty to him, just Rogers, where Rogers went Barnes followed and who Rogers followed Barnes accepted. That was their relationship, it was barely professional, still something in Tony twisted uncomfortably at the thought of Barnes becoming _that_ again. Sure, the man was a pain in the ass, but what Hydra put him through, he would wish that on anyone.

“Mi’ser Stark?” Peter whispers, “are you okay?” Tony hadn’t even realised how tight he’d been gripping his phone until then.

“Yeah kid,” he pauses, Peter had to know something was going on, the kid was observant, better a half-truth than nothing right? “A friend of Steves’, he was hurt this morning.”

“Is he ok?”

“He will be,” Tony sighs running a hand through Peters hair, “but because of this I’m going to be pretty busy for a while, meaning we might not see each other for a bit.” He was already thinking about designs for Barnes’ new arm, the newest message from Clint had in detail all the ways Hydra tore it apart, freaking savages.

“Oh, that’s okay,” Peter stated and Tony didn’t have to look at him to know his face was pulled into a frown.

“We’ll still eat all our meals together okay bud?” Peter nods a small smile on his face but Tony will take it as a win, he’s about to say something else when Steve rounds the corner staying near the entryway leaning on the frame. He looks worse for wear but there’s something almost hopeful in his expression when his eyes land on Tony. Hopeful was never a look Tony really tolerated, it only caused disappointment but despite himself the older man allowed himself to calm, if Steve was allowing himself to believe this was going to work out maybe Tony could delude himself as well.

“Dr Banner and Dr strange want you in the med bay, I can watch Peter,” Tony sighs, he was hoping he’d get to spend slightly longer than a 15-minute break with Peter, but he’ll take what he can get. He rises out of his chair, eyes falling on the book he’d forgotten about. It sat beside the fridge where Tony had left it when he started on their sandwiches.

“Say Pete?” The boy hummed in response, Tony fixed him an assessing look and the small boy seems to sit straighter, “I have something for you,” he starts watching as the boys eyes widen slightly in excitement and really, Tony wondered how he was going to survive when the kid wore his heart on his small stained sleeves.

* * *

 

Steve watched as the boy held onto the book like a life line, Steve had managed to lead them both to the boy’s bedroom, Peter opening the door and entering himself as Steve held back. He didn’t dare enter, Tony had made it very clear that the kids’ room was to be treated with the same respect that the boss’ office was which meant, no one entered Peters room unless Peter said yes. They had all rolled their eyes of course, thinking Tony was just being over protective, but the more Steve watched their encounters over the course of the past week, the more Steve heard Tony asking if he could come in the more, he understood.

Afterall, they were all aware of what it was like to have your options taken away from you.

“You can come in you know,” peter huffed from where he’d perched on his bed. Steve didn’t hesitate, he entered slowly making his way toward the armchair Stark had put into the room, a dark blue leather which matched the rest of the boy’s décor. Honestly, he was mildly impressed that Stark had got it put together as quickly as he had. Children’s toys littered the floor, clothes were hung up in the closet which was bared for all to see after Stark had removed the doors due to Peter freaking out and Steve had overheard Peter mumbling something about a punishment into Tony’s neck.

“You know that’s not true, Stark would shoot me if he found out I’d just waltzed in here,” Peter hummed staring down at the book in his hands, Steve was about to ask when the shouting starting, it was muffled but Steve could hear the smallest thing ever since… he glanced at Peter to see if he could but the boy seemed to be in a world of his own. He tried to ignore the yelling, he knew exactly what was going on, after all he’d been through it countless times before each time they sent him away and he understood he did, that wasn’t Bucky and Steve didn’t have the ability to compartmentalise when it came to his childhood friend so each time he spent hours pouring over operation briefs and making plans against other players. But this time, he could distract himself by watching over peter.

“What’s with all the shouting?” Peter finally asked knocking Steve out of his musing.

“Mr Stark told you my friend was sick right?” Peter nodded his brown curls bouncing freely, “well when he’s sick sometimes he forgets who we are and he gets mad.” Peter frowned at him then clearly asking Steve to continue, “so until he’s better I’m going to have to ensure that you follow the rules more than usual.”

“The rules?” Peter asked.

“Yeah, can you tell me what they are?”

Peter huffs, the rules weren’t really rules, more something Stark had to come up with to ensure Peter actually felt safe. They’d all watched the first-time during dinner when Peter accidently dropped a plate, the fear which etched into his body was enough to make everything pause as the boy readied himself for a hit and when no hit came, he began picking the razor-sharp pieces up with his bare hands. A small flinch and a whimper of an apology for breaking their plate enough to bring everyone back on track, tugging Peter and his sock clad feet away from the mess as Banner grabbed a brush.

“I have to tell an adult if I want to go outside?” Steve nodded, “if I break something I need to let someone know and I don’t clean it up myself,” Steve smiled watching as the boy counted them off with his fingers, “I’m only allowed in Mr starks office when he’s there, I’m not allowed cookies before dinner,” Steve snorted apologising at Peters annoyed huff. “And I’m not allowed in anyone else’ private rooms except Mr Starks and if I need into anyone else’s’ rooms I have to knock and ask permission,” Steve nodded.

“check you out kid, but you forgot a couple,” Steve smirked watching as peter frowned, “no swearing ever,” he winked and Peter giggled, “and for now, until my friends better you’re not allowed onto the medical floor, ok?”

Peter nodded in response, never questioning the rules they set, and instead just said, “I hope your friend gets better,” Steve smiled down at his hands then before returning a soft, “so do I Peter.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again for the support, another chapter down whoop!


	5. The Med Bay

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter just wants to read his book, and Tony has a minor heart attack (not really but yeno).

Peter knew it was wrong, he’d been told by Mr Steve that he wasn’t allowed in this part of the manor. But from what Peter could tell there was nothing out of the ordinary, it was the med bay as Clint called it, Mr Starks version of a hospital. Really it was small considering the other floors. A corridor of about 7 rooms all of which had key cards to get in to. When peter asked, Mr Steve said it was because of the equipment that was in them and Mr Stark was paranoid. But still, if Peter didn’t have a key card what was the harm from just walking up the corridor?

In fact, the rule hadn’t been there a day ago Mr Stark said he had free range over the entire mansion. He could go anywhere except Mr Starks personal office; he was only allowed in there if Mr Stark was there too. So really Peter didn’t see the problem in walking up the corridor so long as he didn’t try to get into any of the rooms.

So, there he was, walking up the tiled floor, the cold creeping into his skin and sending a shiver into his body. The book Mr Stark had giving him clutched to his side, so he had an excuse. He was looking for someone to read to him and he got lost. It wasn’t really anything they could be mad about, could it?

All the rooms were locked, go figure. He was about to turn around and go and find one of the Avengers -as Clint called them- to actually read the book for him when he heard a cough. A horrible rough cough coming from inside one of the rooms, he glanced at the door. The red light that singled if the room was locked wasn’t there and instead green shone bright. Peter crept quietly toward the door, hoping it wouldn’t be enough to catch whoever was inside the room’s attention. He nudged the door slightly from where it lay open just a crack and glanced toward the bed.

He watched as the man -who was a lot younger than most of the people Peter saw at the manor- on the bed reach across for a glass of water, gulping it down before crushing the plastic cup with his hand. His hair was a mess, greasy and long, and his body was wrapped in bandages but that wasn’t what caught Peters attention, no. As Peters eyes moved down to his shoulder, they caught the space where his left arm should be, but instead there was nothing, just empty space. He couldn’t stop the gasp that sounded from his mouth he hoped it was too loud, but when the man’s eyes snapped toward him Peter went still.

“Who’s there?” The man said gruffly eyes searching, Peter had never been gladder for his small size before. He debating stepping back, fleeing from the scene, no one would know. But he was curious, was this man the reason why everyone was being so odd? Was he the reason Peter wasn’t allowed down the corridor? Perhaps this was the friend Mr Steve told him about.

He opened the door slowly, stepping in slightly, his bare feet barely making any noise as he steps closer to the bed.

“hi,” he whispered still unsure of whether or not he should be doing this. But the annoyance that was on the man’s face had faded into something Peter could only describe as, confusion.

“Who the hell are you?” Peter frowned, screwing up his face.

“That’s a bad word, Mr Steve said we shouldn’t say bad words.”

The man scoffed before he caught himself before narrowing his eyes, “wait Mr Steve as in Rogers?” the man asked eyebrows raised.

“yup!” Peter cheered happily, “he’s super nice!” the small boy felt himself relaxed more as he stood by the beds edge. Whoever this was knew Mr Steve, in fact, it probably was Mr Steve’s friend and Peter knew any friend of Mr Steve’s had to be just as nice as the man himself. Peter moved to the right-hand side of the bed, holding out his hand before stating with a wide smile, “I’m Peter.”

The older male watched him, narrowing his eyes before his lips twitched, reaching forward for the small hand and Peter gasped, his hands were cold, “call me Bucky.”

* * *

 Bucky knew his life was fucked. Volunteering for a war he had no interest in and then getting captured by some terrorist group which who were secretly Nazis, he thought that was the cherry on top of his cake of a life. But no, being experimented on, brainwashed, wiped again and again. It does a lot to your mentality. Not a lot fazes him, meeting Steve after so many years was like a kicked to the system, the other male who was younger than him had aged and Bucky was still the same 19-year-old who went MIA.

Banner had run tests, so many tests and had in fact concluded that Bucky had got some cheap knock off of the serum running through Steve’s veins, a serum which hadn’t been tested on anyone before and so, Bucky just like Steve was a lab rat. Still, he wondered. He knew he’d been kept in some kind of cyro, freezing him as the years went by, he still felt the chill in his bones sometimes, he wondered if perhaps in the future, he’d age at all.

All of that had terrified him, looking at his friend and the people who he’d met because Steve had got out from under the army’s thumb. Watching them age as he relapsed and was attacked again and again scared him more than Hydra ever could. And now, looking down at the small boy, tucked under his right arm holding one half of the book while the boy -Peter – held the other, Bucky feared just how many years he might’ve missed this time.

* * *

 

“Where is Peter!” Tony’s voice roared across the room, echoing on the walls and those in it froze in their steps. His team stood there eyeing each other in confusion, it was 10 at night. Peter should be in bed. Except that he wasn’t.

The kid had cried since dinner when Tony stated he’d been unable to read to him tonight, that Clint and Natasha would be in charge of his bed time routine. So Tony, with his guilty heart had called around Peters room when he was able to, an hour after Clint had text him to say that Peter was snoring like a foghorn.

Except that he wasn’t!

How the hell did a 5-year-old kid trick two master assassins?

“We- uh, Stark it’s okay, the kid-“Clint began pointing towards something that Tony was sure he’d break if no one could tell him where his damn kid was.

“Where is he?” he growled and Clint swallowed his words before looking toward the ceiling.

“Sir if I might interrupt,” Jarvis’ voice sounded, “master Peter is in medical room 7.”

“Medical room 7?”

“Isn’t that?”

“Barnes’ room,” Tony stated, the air catching in his throat, “I want video and audio now!”

“Sir if I may, after running scans and analysing data is seems that Sergeant Barnes is relatively relaxed, as is Master Peter.”

“Then what are they doing?” Steve asked as Tony tried to get the feed up himself, his breathing slightly erratic as he planned the infinite torture he was going to subject all of these morons to if so much as one hair was out of place on Peters head.

“It seems that Master Peter is asking Mister Barnes to read him a story.” Tony managed to pull the feed up, Jarvis sending him a rather judge-y message which simply read ‘helicopter parent’. He wasn’t, and even if he was his concerns were valid. What would a AI know about it?

“ _Ev’ryone is busy doing stuff.”_

_“Can’t you read?”_

_“I can, but…” Peter paused slightly chewing on his lip, “some of the words are hard.” Barnes frowned at the child for a moment before finally giving in sliding slightly in his bed._

_“Fine kid, if you’re gonna’ get all pouty on me,” he reached forward for the book and to help Peter onto the bed, as Peter got comfortable, he inspected the book, “Hey peter, where’d you get this?”_

_“Mr Stark gave me it,” he replied, climbing underneath the blanket._

_“He gave you it?” the boy nods, “huh, fancy that.”_

_“What do you mean?” the boy stared at the older male; eyes wide with curiosity._

_“Nothing kid, so fairy tails?”_

_“Uh huh, Mr Stark says there’s lots of adventures!” Barnes hummed, slowly and carefully opening the book and he began reading._

The avengers watched in silence as the man read the boy the story, doing voices and slowly, as the story went on the watched Peter get drowsy before he finally fell asleep, Barnes marking the page with the string inside of the book before setting it onto the bedside table. “ _Jarvis? Can you tell Stark to come collect his offspring?”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> whats this? a update? 
> 
> Thanks for all the comments and Kudos really does motivate me if you can believe it.
> 
> Again if there are any mistakes throughout this or if anyone has any questions feel free to ask them and i'll try to get back to you.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve and Bucky have a chat

Peter had to be Stark’s kid, he’d ran through everyone in his mind and no on resembled peter, tony came close, the brown eyes and messy hair. But Bucky couldn’t help but feel like he was missing something. he’d doubted it sure, Stark was the least paternal person, the least sentimental and yet Peter was cuddling a fairy-tale book that Bucky had seen on occasional when called to Starks office. A fairy-tale book that he’d commented was a gift from his mother. It was about as sentimental as the man got, keeping a book dust free. The same book which was running a risk of being drooled on.

Just what happened while he was gone?

Did everyone-

“You can stop that.” The assassins head snapped toward the door he didn’t relaxed as he saw Stark standing there nor when he saw Steve hovering behind him. He took a moment trying to figure out if there was anything different about their appearances, any added laughter lines, wrinkles, a grey hair but then again, he supposed Stark was vain enough to dye his hair. “Whatever you’re looking for you won’t find it,” Stark stated moving slowly into the room, cautious, and wasn’t that a surprise. Tony Stark being cautious about his safety. But Starks eyes weren’t on Bucky, they were on Peter tucked safely into Bucky’s side.

“I see you’ve met Peter,” Steve remarked smirking from where he was still stood in the doorway, he looked the same Bucky thought, same blond hair combed back, same horrible sense of fashion, who the hell wore kakis and a polo shirt, and what crazy person wore them _together_.

“How long?” Bucky asked eyes drifting now to where tony was kneeling by the bed side combing Peters hair out of his face.

“You were gone for 3 months,” Stark replied, “3 months, 9days 14 hours and 37 minutes.”

Bucky frowned looking at Peter if that was true, “then, Peter?” he asked, he didn’t know how to word it. How did you ask your boss if the child currently drooling on your hospital gown was his illegitimate child? He supposed now, Peter could be a result of a one-night stand, god knows Stark had had enough of them.

“A month ago, it’s been a long process.” He doesn’t add anything further and instead, lifts the boy into his arms, brown curls spilling back over the shirt covered arm and Stark secures his hold. One arm around his back and one under his knees. Bucky watches, wonders how so much changed in 3 months, no in 1 month. How Peter came to be someone so important in such a short period of time. The boy who’d been wearing some bright orange pyjamas with dinosaurs simply snuggled closer into Starks chest, book still firmly clasped in his arms. “Strange will be around in the morning to run some follow up tests, Romanov will be by after to give you all the necessary checks.”

Bucky watched as the pair left the room, watched Steve say a soft good night to Peter and simply nod at Stark before he turned his blue-eyed gaze to Bucky. “How’re you feeling?”

“Confused,” Bucky replied, there was no point lying to Steve, the man could guilt trip a puppy. “I just don’t understand, I was gone for 3 months, right? That’s what Stark said? So how did Peter-”

“A night raid,” Steve stated then shrugged and Bucky’s look, “I was told to debrief you on everything you missed, and considering you didn’t go postal on a 5 year old who was slobbering on you I think I’m safe enough.” Bucky nodded, gesturing to one of the seats in the room and Steve gratefully took one, stretching out his legs from the seat on Bucky’s left. “Firstly though, do you remember anything, before and during?”

“Just before, I remember going on a job for Stark, recon and then one night, I think I was coming back here when it all went dark, I don’t remember anything when…” he paused, “when they had me.”

Steve nodded, the look on his face Bucky had come to associate with his processing the events, “from what we can tell you weren’t active, not when you were with them.” Bucky hadn’t realised the tension he’d been feeling until it all left his body in one fail swoop. “Nat managed to get onto their computers, got a lot of their information and from what we’ve seen they just had you in cyro probably trying to find and effective way to wipe you.” The blond male grimaced, and Bucky wondered sometimes about Steve’s tact as he himself flinched at the thought. “We’re still going through it so you’ll be the first to know if we find anything relating to you.” Bucky nodded gratefully, there were years of his life he was still trying to piece together both before and during hydras reign on him.

“How does Peter fit in to all _this,”_ he waved his hand around the room and Steve snorted.

“Told him to stay away from the floor and the first thing he does after he’d tucked in is come straight down here.” The male laughs, “remember the Parkers?” Sure Bucky did, geneticists working on some rather awful human experimentations they’d been hired by Hydra to create a serum similar to the one in his blood but so far, at least to Bucky’s knowledge they had been unsuccessful. “We found their home, raided it for all it’s worth and killed the pair, but,” Steve paused looking at Bucky sadly, “not before we found their kid. Safe to say Tony wasn’t amused.” Steve laughed leaning back in his chair, moving his arms to fold behind his head, “we were about to kill the kid you know? Couldn’t have the boy crying to the cops or whatnot and they the boy goes and calls him a hero,” Steve’s grin is manic and Bucky only then remembers that this is the mad man who fights with a _shield_.

Steve moves his arms to cross in front of his torso, stretching them out as he done so, reminiscing about something Bucky supposes, “when tony asked him why he thought that Peter, he showed him.” The soldier’s expression sobered then, “kid was covered in bruises, scars. Strange healed what he could but there’s year old fractures that were never seen too by medical professionals and Tony’s been debating calling Cho in but Strange confirmed that Peter was at no risk, in fact the fractures were healed in almost perfect.”

“That’s something,” Bucky stated as he shifted slightly on the bed.

“Kids been attached to Tony’s side ever since, not like the man minds,” Steve chuckles, “he’s a good kid, we’re keeping him away from Barton’s meddlesome influence, last thing we need is Peter learning pranks. Not like it’s done much good, sneaking out.” Bucky matches Steve’s grin then, his best friend who he’d gone to war for.

“He calls you Mr Steve,” Bucky stated grinning like a Cheshire cat and the blond groaned. All thoughts of hydra slipped away, the fear of what they’d done to him or what they were planning to do dissipated into the air as Steve caught him up on everything. From movies and music to what weapons Stark had been designing.

He’d never expected for them to have a life people dreamed of. They used to talk about in many of the run-down towns they visited during the war. What would they want when they finally left, a family and a dog, both of them calling round to each other’s homes talking about taxes or something just as bland?

No, he thought, this was better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks again for the support, it really means a lot.

**Author's Note:**

> I may continue this as a multi chapter story depending on rthe response. hope you enjoyed.


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